Basic Biographical Details Name: | David Brash Dick | Designation: | | Born: | 17 January 1846 | Died: | 9 September 1925 | Bio Notes: | David Brash Dick was born in 1846, the second son of Robert Dick, merchant, of 23 Archibald Place, Edinburgh and Margaret Brash who died in childbirth or soon after. David was named after her father and was baptised on 1 February 1846 by Rev George Johnston, minister of the United Associate Secession Congregation, Nicolson Street, Edinburgh. He studied at the Edinburgh School of Design and was articled to William Lambie Moffatt in Edinburgh. From there he became a draughtsman in the office of Peddie & Kinnear where Dick Peddie may have been a distant relative.
In 1873 Dick emigrated, first to Chicago where he participated in the rebuilding that followed the Great Fire of 1871. Later the same year he settled in Toronto where he joined the office of fellow Scottish expatriate Robert Grant (born 1840). After about a year as an assistant he was taken into partnership, but this was short-lived, being dissolved in 1876. Dick continued to practise in that city on his own account, occasionally still working in collaboration with Grant, who focused thereafter on property development, engaging other contractors to construct his projects.
Dick's Toronto warehouse buildings were in a Romanesque style which was related both to that of Peddie & Kinnear's United Presbyterian churches of the 1860s and contemporary Romanesque. His backward-sloping calligraphy is very similar to that of many of the drawings in the Peddie & Kinnear archive in the 1860s and early 1870s, but come of the capital letters are formed differently.
Dick was a founding member of The Toronto Architectural Guild and President of The Ontario Association of Architects in 1893. He retired to England in 1902. He died in September 1925 and was buried at Woking. He was married but it is not known if he had any children. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | | 1873 | | | Toronto, Canada | Business | 1873 | 1902 | | | England | Private | 1902 | 1925 | |
Employment and TrainingEmployers
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Arthur, Eric and Otto, Stephen A | | Toronto: No Mean City | Various | Toronto, Buffalo & London: University of Toronto Press (1964, 1974, 1986, 1994, 2003) | | | Carson, Lynne | 1991 | The Harland Building | | Unpublished essay 17 April 1991 and cover letter to John Gerrard 14 September 1991 | |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | Builder | 18 September 1925 | | | | | The Times | 10 September 1925 | | | |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | City of Toronto Clerk's Office | City of Toronto Council and Committee Documents | | Bye-law No 85 - 1999, re: 540 Dovercourt Road, Toronto (available on the website of Toronto City Council) | | Professor David M Walker personal archive | Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material | | Information per Stephen Otto, Canada |
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